Sol system (Classic Journeys Era)
Overview Most famous for containing the homeworld of humanity (Earth), all of the human descended humanoids can trace ancestry to this world. Politically it's less on the galactic stage as the only government in the system is the xenophobic Solar Republic, which tends to follow a policy of isolation although it did lend support in the recent Birthright War; this was after Sol had been invaded by the Nall and had fought under grueling circumstances until they received support from the OATO worlds. Colonized Worlds Earth is currently unreachable by standard spacecraft due to the intense plasma currents to be found in the atmosphere, it does have some small underwater cities where some remnants of humanity can be found. Luna, Earths satellite is home to the Lunite race, living in underground cities. Mars has been terraformed and is the seat of government for the Solar Republic. Several of the moons around Jupiter and Saturn have also recently been colonized, in the wake of the Birthright War. Many asteroids and moons further out have military bases on or near them. Finally, Pluto is used as a high security prison for the worst of the Republic's criminals. History The worlds of the Sol System formed their first non-Earth-only government with the founding of the Solar Consortium (linking Earth and Luna) in 2112. The first inter-planetary war was between the Zangali colonists of Mars and the humans intending to terraform that world. The war ended in an agreement banning terraforming of that world but allowing human settlements in suitable domes. The Stellar Consortium followed in 2152 with first contact with the Centauri. A reasonable stable political period followed until 2651 when the Kretonians invaded known space and conquered the Stellar Consortium and the Sol System. The Kretonians were eventually thrown off, leading to the refounding of the more xenophobic Solar Consortium and Free Luna Protectorate. In 3000, the Martian Republic split off from the Consortium in a short, mostly bloodless revolution. All this was thrown into disarray by the destruction of Earth in 3000 and later with the Moebius Effect. The only stable government to follow since the Reflux has been the Solar Republic. Sol System Resources and Travel Hazards The wide variety of objects that exist in the Sol System fall into several categories. Many of these resources, especially the asteroids and major planets see major mining operations. *The Sun (☉) is a spectral class G2V star that contains 96.86% of the system's mass. *Jupiter is a spectral class M9V Red Dwarf that contains 3.04% of the system's mass. Jupiter was originally the largest planet in the system until the Jovian Initiative. *The eight planets of the Solar System are labelled as such: Mercury (☿), Venus (♀), Earth (♁), Mars (♂), Saturn (♄), Uranus (♅/), Neptune (♆) and Pluto (♇). **Natural satellites occur around Earth (Luna), Mars (Phobos, Deimos), Jupiter (Io, Europa, Ganymede (destroyed), Callisto, and others), Saturn (Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Hyperion, Titan, Iapetus, and others), Uranus (Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, and others), Neptune (Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Proteus, Triton, Nereid, and others), and Pluto (Charon) **Artificial satellites orbit the planets, mainly Earth, Mars and Luna. **Dust and other small particles that orbit these planets form planetary rings, most prominently Saturn. **Space debris of artificial origin litters the orbits of Earth and Mars, but some exist in a heliocentric orbit. *Asteroids are objects smaller than planets that lie roughly within the orbit of Jupiter and are composed in significant part of non-volatile minerals. *Kuiper belt objects have orbits lying between 30 and 50 AU (astronomical units, an AU is approximately equal to the mean distance between Earth and Sun). This is thought to be the origin for short-period comets. Pluto is sometimes classified as a Kuiper belt object in addition to or instead of as planet, and the Kuiper belt objects with Pluto-like orbits are called Plutinos. The remaining Kuiper belt objects are classified as Cubewanos in the main belt and scattered disk objects in the outer fringes. *Oort cloud objects (discovered 2189), have orbits lying between 50,000 and 100,000 AU. This region is thought to be the origin of long-period comets. Sol System